Monday, May 14, 2007

More House Archaeology

There is still a mound of dirt (really it is ash and debris from an old coal furnace) in my back yard from great well dig of 2006. This mound is getting bigger but it isn't because I am still digging the well, which has at least another 7 feet of dirt to remove. It is because I have been working on that collapsed stairwell to the basement. Every so often things wash out of the mound. A couple of weeks ago I found this



I looked for the patent but couldn't find it. There were over 300 issued on Dec. 10, 1867 so either I missed one or it was the one that was withdrawn. It is a little bit bigger than a quarter. If anyone knows what this was used for please tell me. I will add it to the box of other old stuff of little value that we have found in this place. My other thought was to use it as jewellery for a body piercing since before long it seems that may be a requirement for residency in Dayton!
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6 comments:

  1. Mark5/14/2007 6:41 PM

    It appears to be a buckle from what I can see. Maybe for suspenders or something.

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  2. Anonymous5/14/2007 8:22 PM

    I agree with Mark. Before seeing his comment I also thought it was some type of buckle which probably means it's some type of buckle.

    You can almost see how it would thread though.

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  3. Gary5/14/2007 10:18 PM

    I know it's a buckle. I was wondering what for. I had thought suspenders but in old days the trousers had buttons and the suspenders had the button holes. It could be for attaching to trousers to tighten at the waist but that too would require button holes in an odd spot. It is probably for something stupid and simple like an oat bag for a horse.

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  4. Anonymous5/15/2007 4:38 AM

    Suspender buckle seems reasonable. Not for fastening them to the trousers, but perhaps to shorten/adjust the length of the suspenders. We're in the days before elastic suspenders, right?

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  5. Anonymous5/15/2007 6:21 AM

    The one puzzling piece of this is the part to the left. A single strip of leather or cloth would not work in that configuration if it were thread from the right or left because there is that piece of metal in the center of the little curved piece. Unless of course it split somehow or simply wrapped from top to bottom or bottom to top. Better yet, maybe the part on the left somehow hooked onto a horizontal beltloop or buttonhole at the waist of the pants so that it could be used as a suspender?

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  6. Jason and Heather5/15/2007 8:06 PM

    It looks like it could be a shoe buckle.

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